Second pregnancies cause mothers’ brains to change in a “unique” way that helps them focus their attention, research from the University of Amsterdam Medical Center (UCM) revealed this week. Scientists had already established that A woman’s brain changes during her first pregnancy to prepare for motherhood.. However, more recent studies reveal specific changes that occur during the second pregnancy that allow women “direct your attention and attend to all tasks”.
The findings are especially important to understand why some women experience mental health problems related to motherhood. Most women become mothers during their lives.. And more than once: in fact, the number of births per woman was 2.3 worldwide.
Researchers in the laboratory focused on pregnancy neurology at the UCM had previously found that When a woman becomes pregnant for the first time, a part of the brain changes which is important for self-reflection and understanding your children’s feelings, which helps in care and parenting.
In this latest study, experts evaluated 110 women: some of them were first-time mothers, others were in their second pregnancy, and the rest did not have children. Brain imaging studies taken before and after pregnancy allowed researchers to determine what changed.
Thus, the brains of women with a second pregnancy presented more changes in the networks related to the control of attention and reaction to sensations. “These processes could benefit the mother who has to take care of several children”explains researcher Milou Straathof, who analyzed the information.
The study does not provide any conclusions about the change in the brains of women who lose a pregnancy, although the researchers point out that changes in the primary brain occur in the final stages of this process, closer to the date of giving birth.
The study also found a relationship between brain changes in the first and second pregnanciesand the development of maternal mental health disorders. Globally, approximately 10% of pregnant women and 13% of women who have just given birth experience mental health problems, primarily depression, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
The UMC study found that structural changes in the outer layer of a woman’s brain, the upper part of the brain, were associated with peripartum depression, that is, depression that occurs during pregnancy or after giving birth. In first-time mothers, the changes were more significantly associated with their mental health status after giving birth. However, in mothers who had a second son or daughter, they were more closely related to mental health during pregnancy.
“With this we have shown for the first time that the brain not only changes during the first pregnancy, but also during the second”says Elseline Hoekzema, head of the UMC Pregnancy Brain Laboratory. “During the first and second pregnancies, the brain changes in a unique way. Each pregnancy leaves a unique imprint on the female brain,” added the scientist.
While more research is needed on this topic, the authors say, results could help improve maternal health careby facilitating the understanding of how and why postpartum depression develops in some women. “It is important that we understand how the brain adapts to motherhood,” says Hoekzema.
*Lt Kate Bowie
